NASCAR 2001 is the first from EA Sports' NASCAR series to be released for the PlayStation 2 on November 7, 2000. The game was not released to the Xbox. NASCAR 2001 was the fourth game in the NASCAR series.

NASCAR 2001 was the final game that featured Dale Earnhardt as a regular full-time driver, prior to his death in the 2001 Daytona 500 (which would reappear in NASCAR Sim Racing with his 1999 car and in NASCAR 07 as an unlockable Chase Plate and Earnhardt appears in NASCAR Thunder 2003 as result of a cheat code). Johnny Benson is also absent in this game, while it was the first NASCAR game to include Jimmy Spencer And Elliott Sadler. The drivers Michael Waltrip, Kenny Irwin Jr., Richard Petty and Adam Petty do not participate in any of the races as a computer opponent, instead the player must be the driver.